Finding that Perfect Pumpkin at Hazelmere

It’s that time of year. You know, when the rains come back to Vancouver and the sun is a stranger? The leaves change colours and clog up the roads and cause flooding? Well okay, that might not be the nicest thing about this time of year but you know what I do like about October? Pumpkin Patches! Each year we try and go at least once. Well for me I try and go at least once because of my work schedule, I know my wife will take the kidlets multiple times.

There are also many pumpkin patches to visit in October and for us we tend to choose Hazelmere Pumpkin Patch in South Surrey. It is close to us, about a 15 minute drive, and our son knows the farmers through his preschool as they go once a month to the farm itself.

Don’t forget to bring your boots!

Location of Hazelmere Pumpkin Patch:

Hazelmere Pumpkin Patch
18507 20 Ave
Surrey, BC

You can reach it easily by driving down 176th (Hwy 15) and turning East onto 20th Avenue and past Redwood Park.

Things to do at Hazelmere Pumpkin Patch

There are a lot of things to do at Hazelmere, and great thing also that we like about Hazelmere is that it is not commercialized like some of those larger pumpkin patches in the Lower Mainland.

When you first arrive at the farm, you will notice that there is some parking along the road but there is a designated parking area next to the farm. There is a little building you walk up to and pay your entrance fee of $5 each. Kids under the age of 2 are free. Pumpkins are extra and they do only accept cash.

So what can you do when you reach the patch?

Pet the Animals! They have goats, llamas, pigs, bunnies that can be petted. Well perhaps not the llamas, but the rest you can go into their enclosures and pet them. The kids loves the goats.

Don’t worry, there are hand-washing stations after you and the kids have played with the animals.

There are tractors the kids can climb on. An old fishing boat they can explore, a big fire truck that has been converted to a slide and a favorite of many kids is the large amount of Tonk-type trucks they can play with in the gravel!

On To The Patch!

The pumpkin patch is the main attraction after all right? Every so often (I forget the exact time but about ~20minutes?) it is time to load up onto the tractor hayride. This is fun for the kidlets as it travels along some muddy trail and goes into their little Halloween display before arriving at the corn maze. You do not need to wait for the tractor ride to get to the pumpkin patch, but it does make it easier for little legs to last longer.

But First, the Corn Maze!

That’s right, after the little ride on the tractor you are dropped off at the edge of the corn maze. There are many entrances/exits so you really cannot get lost in it. The kidlets love navigating around paths through the stalks of corn.

This year they put the old car in the middle of the maze. It was neat to find among the corn stalks. I plopped ‘A’ on the fender but he wasn’t sure of it’s stability. I had to quickly get a photo of him on it!

Once you find one of the many exits, you are at the north end of the pumpkin patch! There were a lot of pumpkins varying in size, shape and even colour. Our general rule with pumpkins is you can take what you can carry. Mom and Dad will not carry more than they can either. ‘A’ picked about 5 pumpkins at first, but we settled on 1 of them and then one for myself.

At this point ‘W’ was too tired to explore the pumpkin patch with her brother. Instead her and Mom sat at a picnic bench and had snacks as ‘A’ and I tried to find the “right” pumpkins for us.

20 minutes had gone by and the tractor was back to take us and the pumpkins back to the front of the farm. There we were about to pay for our pumpkins and go home but then my wife spotted some of the bunnies were out and people were getting to hold them and pet them. ‘W’ perked up and her and Mom went to do that. I took ‘A’ to get his face painted as there wasn’t a line up at the time.

He loved the batman symbol he choose. Though the moment we got home he wanted it off and it was a bit of a chore to do so.

The above were our final two choices for pumpkins. Of course I end up having to carry both of them, but at least they were manageable. If you are a family who loves to pick many pumpkins there are wheel-barrows you can use to cart them around and to your car.

Overall it was a great day at the Hazelmere Pumpkin patch in South Surrey. I would love to go again if I can find it in my schedule to do so. I know my wife will take the kids at least a couple more times this year before the 31st.

If you are looking for a pumpkin patch that isn’t overly crowded or commercialized and has a more farm-type charm to it, then I do recommend checking our what Hazelmere Pumpkin Patch has to offer. It is a lot of fun for the whole family, but like I mentioned before, bring your boots as with the recent rain I am sure it will be very muddy!

Have you gone to a pumpkin patch this October? Which one did you visit? Let me know in the comments below!

If you are looking for more family fun activities within the Delta, Surrey and White Rock areas, check out KidApprovedBC and their Kid Approved Top 10 October activities. For those unfamiliar with KidApprovedBC, their main aim is to have families do things together by promoting activities and attractions that are fun, educational and promote a healthy lifestyle. You can explore more of what KidApprovedBC offers by following them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or by searching their #KidApprovedBC hashtag.